It is generally known to form either coursewise or walewise extending lines of special stitches in seamless knit tubular blanks for guiding an operator in cutting coursewise openings or walewise slits in the knit blanks when forming garments therefrom. It is also known to form body garments, such as panties and the like, from seamless knit tubular blanks by cutting away one or more portions of the blank to form leg openings in the panty.
For example, Matthews et al U.S. Pat. No. 3,375,530 discloses a knit panty and method of forming the same wherein a seamless tubular knit blank is first knit and then drawn over an elongate cutting board having an inwardly curved notch formed along one side thereof. The portion of the blank in the area of the inwardly curved notch is cut away and the adjacent upper and lower portions of the tubular blank are longitudinally slit and sewn together so that the cut-away portion of the tubular blank forms the leg openings in the panty. However, the cost of producing panties in accordance with the Matthews et al patent is increased by the cost of providing the elongate cutting boards, and the additional labor required in drawing the tubular blanks onto the elongate cutting board, forming the cut therein and then removing the blank therefrom.
The panty type brief disclosed in the Beard et al U.S. Pat. No. 3,491,375 is formed from a seamless knit tubular blank which is flattened out and a pattern guide or mask is positioned on the flattened tubular blank and a line is drawn around the mask to provide a cutting guide for cutting away one or more portions of the tubular blank and removing the same so that the cut-away portions form the leg openings in the panty. The cost of producing the panty in accordance with the Beard et al patent is also increased by the cost of providing the pattern guide or mask, and by the additional operational step of outlining the pattern guide on the knit material to form the guide for cutting and removing portions of the tubular blank.